Obedience School
by Purpuhl
Summary: Smallstar Seaworthy did not like her brother's misbehaved pet. Not at all.
1. Allstar's Abandonment

_Wow, I am sorry, guys, I did not check the doc before I posted it and the format was all weird. Hopefully it is fixed now._

 _I spelled some words incorrectly to show how Smallstar pronounces them, hopefully you can still follow the story. And hopefully you laugh!_

* * *

Smallstar Seaworthy woke up to the sound of Allstar running around his room and throwing things in his suitcase. Sometimes he'd take pauses to arrange the items he was tossing in, but mostly he just tossed. She watched him curiously from the doorway. Usually only her dad packed like that, when a family trip was coming up. But nobody had told her about a trip, and Allstar wasn't Dad.

"Allstar, what are you doing?" She asked.

"Packing," he said, yanking socks from under his bed and throwing them in. She watched, fascinated. She'd thought she was the only one who hid laundry under the bed to avoid putting it away. Apparently not. Where was he going with hidden socks, anyway?

"What are you packing for?" She swam shakily into his room and onto his bed, still getting used to using her snork to get around, instead of crawling like some dumb baby.

"Field trip." He said, as if it explained everything. "Smallstar, why don't you go help Dad in the kitchen?" He smiled encouragingly.

She sighed and looked at the messy floor. "He shooed me gone. I wanted to help on the stove, but he sayed I was too little."

"Oh." He looked respectfully upset, not like Mom, who'd laughed at her. Being too little was _not_ a laughing matter.

"What about Occy?" He paused to fold a pair of pants, even though he hadn't folded any other clothes.

"Occy?" She stuck her tongue out. "He no good. Only barks and chases his tenuhcles."

"Tenuhcles?"

"Yeah. Those things that he use to move."

"Oh. _Tentacles_."

"That's what I sayed!"

He sighed and shook his head in a long-suffering way. "He'll play with you if you throw something for him."

She hmphed and rolled her eyes. "What would I throw at him?"

 _"For_ him."

" _Fooooor_ him?"

He shrugged and said "Try this," tossing what looked like an ancient sock in his little sister's direction. She held it out and wrinkled her snork in disgust.

"It smell like feet."

"He likes that."

"He a weeeiiiirrd octopoopy!"

" _Puppy."_

Not quite defeated, but not quite not, she swam away, muttering that "poopy" would make a lot more sense, because that's all Occy ever did. Besides bark and chase his _tentacles._

"OCCY!" she yelled, causing Mrs. Seaworthy looked up from the phone. "Please don't yell, Smallstar," she admonished quietly. "I'm trying to hear."

"Hear what?" Smallstar asked immediately, hoping for a distraction. Her mother just made shushing noses. Smallstar tried again, more quietly. _"Hear what?_ " Mrs. Seaworthy held up her finger, signalling her daughter to wait a minute. Smallstar decided it wasn't worth it, and went outside. There she saw Occy, napping under a clump of seaweed.

" _There_ you are. Why aren't you inside?" She asked. He blinked a few times, examined her, and turned around to keep napping. Irritated, she hmphed again and tossed the sock. _Stupid dog._

His tentacles twitched when the sock hit the ground, and he swiveled his head around to see what had been thrown. Upon spotting it, he leaped up and gave chase, scooping the dirty relic up into his mouth and then running towards the toddler.

And then passed her. He kept going into the house. "OOOCCYYY!" She grumbled. "I'M OVER HERE! _HERE!_ " He didn't turn around."Oooh, _stupid_ octopoopy!" She fumed and followed him inside to retrieve the sock.

Her mom was still on the phone, so she tiptoed past into the hall, where Occy had ran over Allstar and dropped the wet sock on his face. "Agh!" Allstar yelped. "Gerroff me, Occy!" This annoyed Smallstar, because he'd just been scolding her for mispronouncing words, and here he was not saying "get off" correctly. He peeled the sock off his cheek and threw it in the laundry basket. Occy went to chase it again, but Allstar stopped him. "Not now, boy. You can play at the park." He proceeded to pick up his suitcase and backpack, but Occy grabbed his shirt and held him back. "Occy!" Allstar sighed. "Don't worry, I'll be back in a week!" He shoved Occy off of him and headed out.

Smallstar stared at the recently closed door and groaned. "A _week?_!" She repeated, as Occy fainted at the idea. "How long is a _week?"_


	2. ArrOOOOO

[Later that week]

Smallstar pouted through her three millionth nap in a day. Her parents kept putting her to bed for being bad. She didn't _mean_ to be bad. There was just nothing else to do! How was she supposed to know mud didn't go in chocolate kelp pie? It _looked_ like it did!

Finally her mom opened the door and told her she could get up again, but to _"stay out of trouble!"_ And so Smallstar found herself sitting alone on the front porch, piling up pebbles while Occy ran around in the mud that _didn't_ belong in pie. He barked. And barked.

"Occy, stop yelling!" Smallstar shouted. He barked again and ran over her pile of pebbles, scattering them everywhere. "No! _Bad_ octopoopy! _Bad!_ "

"Smallstar, stop yelling!" Her dad yelled from the kitchen.

"But Occy's yelling!" Smallstar protested.

"Smallstar-" Mr. Seaworthy's voice held a warning note. Smallstar sighed and started rebuilding her pile of pebbles.

"Smallstar!" Willie's voice came from the other yard. Smallstar swam over. "Willie! Save me! They boring over here."

"Really? There's nothin' to do over here, either. Dad's at work and Mom's writing a speech."

"Where Junior?"

"He's at school. Still."

"Allstar too. For a whole week!"

"Junior too! But nobody will tell me how long a week is." He frowned.

"It okay. Nobody tell me, eether. I mean either." She didn't know why, but Seaworthies always said either with an _e_ sound, and Wetworths with an _i._ She liked _i_ better, but only remembered around Willie.

"Smallstar!" Her mom was standing on the porch.

" _What?_ I no be bad!"

Her mom laughed. "No, not that, dear. I wanted to ask you if you'd like to go to the park today for a picnic."

"A _picnic_?" Smallstar squealed. " _Yuss!_ Then I finally won't be bored!" She snorked over and hugged Mrs. Seaworthy. "Can Willie come too? He bored like me."

looked toward the Wetworth residence at the child standing next to the fence. He wasn't grubby like her own child- he was neat, overalls buttoned, face clean, shoes tied. She wondered what the Wetworths were doing that she wasn't. "Of course he can, Smallstar."

"Yay!" Her daughter let go of her legs and swam over to the fence to celebrate with William. Occy barked happily and swam circles around the yard. Chuckling, Mrs. Seaworthy went back inside to fix the pie.

So it was that a family of four, minus one and plus an extra, and an octopuppy, found themselves at the park on a balmy afternoon during September. Mr. and Mrs. Seaworthy took it upon themselves to set up, and thus Smallstar found herself in charge of a very excited Occy.

"ARF! ARF-ARF-ARF-ARF! AH-ROOOOOOOOO!" He howled enthusiastically, drawing annoyed looks from some older snorks nearby. They shook their heads at Smallstar and Willie, and the children knew they were somehow responsible for Occy's disorderly conduct. "Occ-yyyy!" Smallstar scolded. "Ssh!"

"AH-ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He ran circles around the two children.

"Oh, go fetch!" Smallstar took her shoe off, then her striped sock, and threw it across the playground. Occy lifted his head, followed it with his eyes, and thought better. "Aaah-rooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He took off after a squirrel-fish instead. It darted through the bars in the fence.

Occy growled and barked, then proceeded to circle his eight arms like a windmill, throwing sand into a pile behind him.

Willie glanced at Smallstar. "Is he allowed to do that?"

Smallstar shrugged, putting her shoe on her sockless foot. "I dunno."

"Smallstar!" Her father's scolding voice came from the picnic blanket, where he was setting out food.

" _What?_ "

"Don't let Occy dig, dear." Her mother said calmly, placing napkins at each place setting.

"But-" Smallstar began, but was quieted by her mother's do-it-now look, a serious glance over the rim of her glasses.. Smallstar sighed. "All right. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCYYY!" The red octopus was already on the other side of the fence. He glanced back at her, then started digging _another_ hole back inside. " _NO!_ Stop being bad, Occy! Stoooooop!"

Willie and Smallstar ran over to Occy. They frantically grabbed a tentacle each. The octopuppy looked at them, confused. "Hrrrm?" He whined.

"You can't dig here, Occy!" Willie explained.

"Yeah, no digging!" agreed Smallstar.

Occy looked down dejectedly. "Don't be sad!" Smallstar chided. " _Everyone_ gets in trouble. Except Alls-"

"The picnic is ready!" Mr. Seaworthy called.

"ARF! ARF!" Occy rejoiced loudly and jetted to the picnic table. Willie and Smallstar hurried to follow.

Smallstar squealed with delight when she saw the meal. " _Kelpbutter and jellyfish?!"_ She started dancing around. "I-love-you-mommy-I-love-you-mommy-I-love-you-mommy!" She reached for a plate-

-and got knocked over by a charging octopuppy, who promptly gulped down the sandwich. Smallstar gaped at him, appalled. "You- YOU ATE MY SANDWICH, YOU-" She couldn't even finish. His actions were too despicable for words. That, and before she could think of a suitable insult Occy had already started eating Willie's sandwich in a similar fashion. Willie stared despondently at his empty plate. Smallstar fumed.

"YOU STOOPID OCTOPoOPY! CAN'T YOU-"

"Smallstar!" Her mother interrupted chidingly. "Calm down or I'll put you do bed."

"But-"

"It's all right," her dad said. "We have more food." He handed both children another sandwich.

Smallstar took it, only muttering a little, and sat with a muffled _thump_ on the striped picnic blanket. Willie followed suit, barring the muttering. Smallstar bit into her sandwich. It was purple-jellyfish- her favorite. She let the flavors blend in her mouth and looked around at the park around her. There were children (without octopuppies) on the slide. Old people sat on benches, talking. Octopuppies walked in a perfect circle, obeying the voice of a green snork with a baseball cap.

Wait a minute- _Octopuppies_ that were actually _obedient?_ She did a double take. Yes, they were definitely obeying the green snork. She said "sit" and they all sat. Their owners patted their dogs' heads and fed them assorted treats. She said "shake" and they stuck out an arm. Smallstar stared. And then she got an idea. A beautiful, brilliant, perfectly infallible plan.

Gulping down the rest of her sandwich, she grabbed Occy with one hand and Willie with the other, shouting a hasty "Thank you!" to her parents before dashing for the octopuppies.

"SMALL-STAR-WHAT-ARE-WE-DOOOOING?" Willie gasped between being jerked along behind the excited toddler.

"We _train_ Occy, and he no be bad!" She explained gleefully.

"Hrrm?" The Octopuppy in question perked up his head-tentacles, hoping he'd heard wrong.

The trio arrived in front of the green snork. She looked down at them from beneath her white cap, chewing a piece of seaweed. "Yeah?"

"Is this a octopoopy school?" Smallstar asked as politely as she could.

"Yeah," the green snork answered.

"Will it teach Occy to be obeedant?" She pulled Occy forward.

"Yeah."

"Can he enter it?"

"Yeah."

"Today?"

"Yeah. But you need parental permission."

"Per... Per-mih-shun?"

"Yeah."

"She means when you ask your parents," Willie explained.

"Oh! I can do _that."_ And they were off once more, speeding back to the checkered picnic blanket.


	3. The Snorkeater

And thus Occy found himself enrolled in an Octopuppy obedience school, listening to (or ignoring) orders yelled by a green snork who didn't act at _all_ like Tooter while Smallstar and Willie scrambled behind him, trying to keep some semblance of control over their (or Allstar's) pet.

The success of their venture was questionable. They exerted their best efforts to pull him around in a large circle when the green lady barked " _Walk!_ " But they nearly always somehow ended up being dragged inelegantly behind him while he tailed another octopuppy, yapping and panting to his heart's content.

When they _didn't_ end up behind him, they were underneath him being trampled. By the time the green director of the "training" finally called " _Sit,"_ both children were disheveled and exhausted. Smallstar had scraped up her elbow on some rocks in an attempt to stop Occy's charging. Willie had bandaged the injury with a strap from his overalls, but it only covered part of it. Needless to say nobody was very happy with the little red package of joy.

Especially not when he _refused_ to sit, instead sniffing the water. " _No,_ Occy! Sit! Like this!" Smallstar plopped to the ground in an eruption of sand. Occy paid no heed, but continued to smell around. Finally he stopped, glaring up and growling. " _Occy!"_

"ARF! ARFARFARF!" Smallstar looked in the direction he was barking at and gasped, tugging at Willie's remaining overall strap and pointing.

"Uh-oh!" She said.

Willie looked and his eyes widened. "Um, um- MISSES TRAINER LADY! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"

"Oh, what is it now?" The green snork asked irritably. Then she saw it, and screamed. "RUN! EVERYBODY RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Nobody required an embossed invitation; they all took off like flies fleeing a newspaper, screaming. There, at the edge of the park, was a living, breathing, growling hunk of red flesh, possessed in odd places with snapping fangs longer than Smallstar's pigtail. A snorkeater!

Smallstar and Willie grabbed Occy's leash and pulled with all their might- and then hung on for their lives, because he suddenly took off towards Smallstar's panicking parents. The sea rushed by in a blur of colors. Faster, faster. The Snorkeater laughed behind them and shouted something sinister. Willie whimpered next to her. She let go of the leash with one hand to comfort him.

And that was her mistake. She hit the ground abruptly, and skidded on the sand before grounding to a painful halt. She muddled to her feet and ran, trying frantically to remember how to swim and sparring a glance behind her to see how close the snorkeater was.

"AHHH!" She shrieked as she crashed into a particularly large clump of coral. Cornered. She backed against it as the Snorkeater towered over her, foaming at the mouth. "You no very big for a meal," he snarled, lifting her in a grimy claw. "Maybe appetizer?"

"You let go of me, you- AHH!" She yelped when he tossed her into the air and caught her again.

"You soft enough to just swallow whole," he said, as if he had these conversations all the time.

"No I not!" She protested, sure it was some sort of insult. "PUT ME DOWN!"

He laughed. "Okay!" He opened his wide mouth, displaying rows and rows of malicous, gleaming fangs. Smallstar knew then that this was bigger than her. She could tie her shoes, she could feed herself and dress, but she could not do this.

"HEEEEEELP!"

The horrrible mouth drew closer.

"GRRRRRRRRR!" Snarled a voice. The Snorkeater dropped her, howling in pain and flailing his tail about. There was Occy, hanging dutifully onto the monster's fifth limb with all his might. Smallstar stared, amazed. The Snorkeater grabbed Occy by the legs and snarled.

"You will pay, you stupid creature," he threatened.

And that's when Smallstar realized it didn't matter how annoying Occy was, or how loud or disobedient, or even how boring. "YOU LET MY OCTOPOOPY GO, YOU BIG MEAN _BULLY!"_ She yelled with all the force she could muster. She began punching his legs, ignoring the snapping fangs. "PUT MY OCCY _DOWN!"_

Occy managed to get free and joined the attack. Screeching, the Snorkeater decided he'd had enough. He took off, jetting away into the deep blue beyond.

"AND STAY AWAY!" Smallstar called.

"ARF!" Occy barked in agreement next to her.

Smallstar's parents swam over, followed closely by a very shaken Willie, who said nothing but collapsed next to her and wrapped his arms around her protectively. "Smallstar!" Her dad choked, tears streaming down his yellow face. "Oh, I though we'd lost you!" He knelt next to her and enveloped her (and Willie) in a very smothering hug.

" _Da-ad!"_ Smallstar protested. "It okay! I alive!"

Her mom sobbed- or laughed- and joined the hug. "And we are so, so happy!"

"It Occy's fault..." Smallstar informed them. "He a good octopoopy."

" _Puppy,_ dear," her mom corrected.

"I love him," Smallstar told them.

"Hrrm?" Occy stuck his head between the crushing arms of her parents.

"Yep, Occy, that's what I say! I looooooove you!" Smallstar sang. "I love love loooooooove you, I love love loooooooooooooooooooove you!"

"AH-ROOOO!" Occy howled along happily.


	4. Epilogue

[later that day, when they are safely home and Smallstar is being put to bed]

"Smallstar? Where is your other sock?" Her mother asked as she peeled the toddler's muddy shoes off.

Smallstar looked at her feet. There was one with a striped sock on and one with only yellow toes. She shrugged.

"I don't know!"


End file.
